Between 1997 and 2013, the number of new businesses increased by 41 percent, but the number of women-owned firms increased by 59 percent. That’s a rate one and a half times the national average. Who were these female small business founders? They’re not uneducated, that’s for sure. In a recent study by the Kauffman Foundation and LegalZoom, “Who Started New Businesses in 2013?” while the number of new female entrepreneurs with bachelor’s degrees was down, the number of women with master’s degrees starting businesses was significantly higher than the number of men. Likewise, in the tech industry, the percentage of women who have had graduate-level education has risen, from 40 percent to 56 percent. As more women earn college degrees, apparently the trend is paying off in more of them taking matters into their own hands and starting their own businesses.

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Rieva Lesonsky

Rieva Lesonsky is CEO of GrowBiz Media, a media and custom content company focusing on small business and entrepreneurship. Email Rieva at rieva@smallbizdaily.com, follow her on Google+ and Twitter.com/Rieva, and visit her website, SmallBizDaily.com, to get the scoop on business trends and sign up for Rieva’s free TrendCast reports.

Education does not hurt anyone who wants to rise to the top. Education is needed when starting a business or new venture. It helps a quite deal, but I don’t know if you really need to hold a master’s degree to start a business. There are many successful people who don’t have a master’s degree, but certainly those who do have a better educational background for running a business.

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